Dan V Masters
by kuroneko52
Summary: Sequel to Vlad's Son. A new ghost has arrived in Amity Park - Dan Phantom, an evil version of Danny and Vlad's future from a timeline that was prevented. Worse yet, Dan seems to have plans for the Masters family... even Vlad's beautiful wife and powerful step-daughter. Rated for language and violence in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom copyrights, characters, etc. This fanfiction is for entertainment purposes only and makes no profits. I only own OC's and original plot devices.

Nyaa.

Welcome to Dan V. Masters, the sequel to my K+ rated fanfiction, Vlad's Son! If you have not read Vlad's Son, you might want to, since there's a lot of information there that also applies here, and I'm going to be a pain in the ass by not telling you what that information is. **Also, note the T rating!** This is mostly because of language and violence, as this fanfiction focuses on Dan Phantom, Danny's potential, evil future self.

Enjoy!

Nyaa!

**=^-.-^=**

**Chapter 1**

Amity Park was still in the wee morning hour of 3 AM. A cool night breeze rustled through the trees as it swept by. Everything was unusually quiet as a long minute seemed to dangle, frozen, in the air.

There was a loud crackling of electricity. A small, white orb appeared. Without warning, it exploded, expanding quickly before dying in an instant, all energy dispersed. Veins of burnt soil and grass stretched out in all directions in an almost sun-shaped circumference around the center of the explosion.

A blazing white fire helped to cast a dim, white spectral glow, to brighten the darkness. The ghost was a hulking beast of a man, with an impressive physique of muscle that would have made even the war gods of old legends sore with envy. But if he had the body of a war god, then he had the face of a death god – dark, black rings circled under his blood-red eyes, making them even more terrifying and striking to look at. It was an aesthetic that many war-lusting, blood-thirsty ghosts picked up naturally, as their physiology worked to match their behavior.

It had taken roughly four years to repair the dimensional portal that the Guys in White had used to send his companion away, but Dan Phantom was no slouch in the technical department. He had managed to follow the Stitch Witch to another time.

As he looked around, however, his frown etched deeper across his face. It was early 2008, yet his birth-town was still intact and standing. In his own timeline, he had formed in late 2007. Amity should have been nothing but abandoned ash and rubble by now!

So _this_ was why his own reality had started to crumble and disappear. Dan snarled at nothing, exposing a canine. He had just barely escaped non-existence because someone or some_thing_ had prevented his creation.

Of course, now that he was outside of his _own_ timeline, he felt great. As great as a sociopathic psychopath _could_ feel, anyway.

Something familiar stirred his senses – a spectral signature that had sewn itself into his memory. The daughter of Pariah Dark was nearby.

"Ashley." Dan took off in the proper direction, his body becoming a black shadow rather than disappearing. He rarely turned invisible anymore.

As he drew closer and closer to the signature's location, however, he became increasingly more familiar with his surroundings – uncomfortably so. The signature called him to Amity's rich neighborhood, Polter Heights. He recognized Vlad Masters' mansion as he approached, suppressing his own signature so that he wouldn't be detected as he landed on the rooftop.

A small, black object exited the mansion: a stitched-together cat. She ran into the center of the back garden and looked around, meowing loudly. Dan waited patiently. The cat searched some more, eventually growing quiet in her wandering. She even slowed to a prowl.

When nothing stirred, the cat leapt upon a fountain and shapeshifted to her true form, a young-looking woman with a myriad of stitching seams running around and along different parts of her body. Her wild, red hair cascaded down her back; she hadn't cut it since the last time he had seen her. Her shattered porcelain skin stood out in the moonlight, and he could see her cold, gray eyes looking around with suspicion. Oh, how he missed his cunning Stitch Witch. He had never had a victim who was always so certain that a predator was nearby…

"Stitches! What're you doing out here?"

Dan lowered against the roof some more, growling and narrowing his red eyes as another familiar face came out of the mansion. Himself… or, at least, his forebear and namesake, Danny Phantom. Stitches was a cat again before the fourteen-year-old Danny could rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Ugh… What time is it…?" Danny looked around, then down at the cat. He picked her up around the middle and tucked her under an arm. "Dude, you totally ripped the blanket off of the bed."

"It's three in the morning. What the heck are _you_ doing up?" the kitty asked, looking up innocently.

The ghost arched an eyebrow until the two halfas disappeared from his vision. Then he flew off again. If he was going to rip off the Witch's right arm, he would need to get close to her – and resist the urge to kill Danny and Vlad Masters until then. In the meantime, he would need to gather resources.

Luckily, he held all of Vlad's memories _and_ all of Danny's. He knew where forgotten hiding places were, which blind spots would go unnoticed for the longest amount of time, and exactly which investments Vlad had made to make his stolen millions into legitimate billions.

* * *

Danny Masters yelped as he was stuffed into a locker, backpack and all. He gasped as the door slammed shut, encasing him in darkness. Over his weekend in the Rockies, he had not missed school _or_ his bully one little bit.

The darkness gave him a rare flashback to his childhood. Air couldn't be recalled to his lungs. Eyes glowing bright green, he yelled and shot through the door of the locker, turned, and shoved Dash in the chest. The shocked blonde tumbled backwards through the intangible door, then lost no time in slamming his fists against the now-solid door. "Hey! Let me outta here! How the hell did I get _in_ here?!"

Dazed, Danny took a step back, holding his head. His eyes widened as he registered that Dash was now in the locker he, _himself,_ had just been in. It didn't take much for him to realize what had happened – he had reacted instinctively on his fear of dark, small spaces. The last time that he had reacted like _this,_ however, had been years ago. He was at least eight when it happened. Six years, and now _this_ happened…?

"Danny?"

He whipped around. Sam and Tucker were standing just within the hallway. Shoot! When had they arrived? Better yet, had they seen him doing anything… _ghostly?_ "Uh, h-hey, guys! What's, um…" He coughed, pretending to clear his throat uncomfortably. "What's up?!"

"Dude, you okay? You're acting weird." Tucker looked around. "So… Wasn't Dash just here? Kicking your butt?"

"Uh… Yeah, but… he left. You know Dash! Beat up Danny and… dash." Danny cringed at his own sentence.

Sam tilted her head. "Are you sure, Danny…?"

"Yup! Absolutely positive! Come on, let's get out of here!" Danny shoved them both ahead of him, hurrying to get away from the lockers before any other kids came along, or Dash started thumping on the lockers again. He knew for a fact that the janitor did one final check before going home.

The three friends had walked from home to school and back every day since Danny had moved to Amity Park with his father, Vlad Masters, and made friends with Sam and Tucker. That was a little over four years ago, now. It was their first year of high school. So far, Danny _hated_ high school. Apparently his ghostly half was affecting his human body's ability to properly go through puberty. Now, granted, Danny had always been a little short for his age, but still having the baby face… sucked.

"Thank Doom it's Friday! I'm setting aside the books and hittin' the video games hardcore tonight!" Tucker cheered, folding his arms behind his head with a grin.

Sam shot him a sideways smirk. "You study? Since when?"

"Hey! I almost read a _whole chapter_ of the Scarlet Letter this week!" he retorted.

"I can send you a copy of my notes… if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow." Danny offered.

This got a shared frown from his friends. "Why does your dad always take you up to the Rockies?" Sam asked suddenly. "It's kind of weird. There's almost _no_ vacation or weekends where your family has stayed in town outside of birthdays."

"She's right, man. Is your dad a super villain or something?"

Danny tried to repress a laugh and it came out as a weird sort of snort, which ended in him choking on his own spit and nearly coughing up a lung. While his dad _had_ been relatively plot-free for the last four years, he was still fairly certain that Vlad expected to take over the world sooner or later. Of course, the old badger was too busy being _married_ to the former wife of Pariah Dark, who had been the _first_ super villain, but all of that would be very, very hard to explain to anyone who wasn't savvy to Ghost Zone lore.

"Not exactly. A _corporate_ super villain, maybe, but only because it's impossible to say no to the guy. That's why he keeps getting reelected, you know." Danny said once he had recovered. "I, uh… I kinda have to go out there as much as possible for a… a medical condition."

"A medical condition?" Sam snapped to attention, looking paler than usual. _"You_ have a medical condition?"

"Er, it's nothing! It's… just… something that's wrong with my blood. Something to do with that accident with my birth-family." Danny tried to brush it off, but was aware of how much _worse_ he had just made the situation seem simply by opening his mouth at all. Sam and Tucker both had wide eyes. Danny mentally kicked himself. "I'm fine, okay? I promise. It's nothing life-threatening. My dad just gets paranoid about it, so he takes the family up to the lodge and makes me do a bunch of exercises."

"Well, that explains why you never sweat during summer _or_ wear enough snow-gear during winter."

"For goodness sakes, Tucker, he's not a _lizard!"_ Sam studied Danny critically. "…Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"Stop! I'm fine!" Danny felt his cheeks grow warm. Judging by Tucker getting ready to laugh at the two of them, his face was now either red or pink. He hoped it wasn't pink.

"Your face is turning pink." Crap! Danny frowned at Sam as Tucker began cackling.

"Haven't you heard? I just _love_ talking about myself." Danny sighed and shook his head. "Hey, I'm not the one who totally _didn't_ read all of my class' book, remember?"

"True." Sam turned and punched Tucker in the arm, eliciting a yelp of pain from him. "I told you! Read that book by Saturday or suffer the consequences!"

"Ow! Hey! I still have until tomorrow – don't punch me!" Tucker tried to sprint ahead and out of her reach, but unlike himself and Danny, who were happy couch potatoes, Sam was very active. She had no problem darting alongside him and smacking him for trying to escape.

Danny smiled a little, following at a lazy pace. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought that he saw one of his father's employees.

He turned his head slightly. The man was large, both in height and weight… and by weight, Danny meant muscle. The guy was ripped and looked like he belonged in an action movie with spies, explosions and fast cars. He was wearing a suit – expensive and black, like his dad might wear – with a black tie, dress shoes and sunglasses. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and he had a goatee, both as black as his suit. He looked incredibly familiar…

The stranger, who was sitting at an outdoor table of a restaurant and reading a newspaper, turned his head sharply, tilting his sunglasses slightly. A pair of dark, cold blue eyes scowled at him.

This wasn't a bodyguard, that most was certain. Danny recognized a look of threatening intent, and this man's was murderous. Was this one of his father's enemies? An assassin? A kidnapper? Was he a ghost, or a human? Danny's ghost sense hadn't gone off. Unease churned in Danny's stomach as he stared ahead at Sam and Tucker, who were still bantering back and forth, oblivious to his sudden tension. What if he tried to attack Danny now? What should he do? How would his friends react if he had to protect them? How would _he_ react if he had to protect them?!

Of all the days for his step-sister not to be tailing him…

"Hey." Suddenly the mountain of a man was in front of him. Danny stopped abruptly, jerking back a little as he did so. When had the guy even crossed the street? He hadn't even had time to get up from his table!

"Definitely a ghost." Danny muttered to himself, on guard.

The stranger sneered. Danny thought he saw an elongated canine. Great. A vampire ghost. Wait until Dad heard about _this_ one. "Don't mumble when your elders are talking to you, brat." The man had a low, rumbling growl to his already-baritone voice. It was, again, oddly familiar. Danny was starting to get bothered.

"Hey, yourself!" Sam appeared out of nowhere, planting herself between Danny and the imposing-looking adult. "Who are _you_ supposed to be?"

The man stared at Sam silently for a moment. "I'm a friend of Ashley's, that's who." Reaching into his suit, he pulled out an envelope and handed it to Danny. "So, since I _know_ that _you_ know her, be sure to give her this message from me. We have important business to continue."

"Business?" Danny gaped as the envelope was tossed at him, fumbling to catch it. "Wait! Ashley doesn't _do_ 'business'!" he called after the man as he left. It was no use; the stranger ignored him and continued going.

"Your step-sister has some really weird friends if she keeps guys like _that_ around." Sam muttered. She looked at Danny. "I thought she lived in Europe or something…? Is she visiting?"

"Ashley's visiting? Better lock up the arcade…" Tucker frowned deeply.

Danny's mind conjured up memories of the last time his friends had 'met' Stitch Witch. She had treated the trio – well, more like Tucker and Danny – with sugar and soda, then shared in the sugar high and destroyed most of the local arcade. Then she had brought them to the Masters' estate where she had continued to do the same to their home arcade.

"That was awesome! I still have the pictures on my phone!" Sam grinned, pulling out her phone and going through it. "We should get her a 2-liter of soda. She's, like, the best clean adult ever! Hard to believe her mom was into _your_ dad, though…" She shot a teasing smile at Danny.

"No! No caffeine for Danny's sister!" Tucker begged.

Danny smiled at them, but looked down at the letter in his hands uneasily. Ashley's 'friend' was obviously a ghost, and his instinct told the young halfa not to trust the man. He didn't know any of her other acquaintances, either – namely because she made sure not to have any. It was all really suspicious, which made his protective nature kick in.

"Hey, guys? I'll talk to you later, okay? I've gotta go." he said.

They nodded and waved as their friend left.

Tucker looked at Sam. "So… is there some reason we didn't ask about the locker?" he asked.

"And say what? 'Hey, we just saw you fly _through_ Dash, and then push him through a solid metal door'?" The young goth girl rubbed the back of her neck with a frown. "We'll ask him on Monday. Maybe. We just have to come up with a way to approach him about it. Understand?"

Tucker frowned, but nodded. "Got it."

**=^n.n^=**

Woo! Lots of stuff going on right off the bat. Dan wants to either love or maim Stitch Witch (possibly both, he _is_ a psychopath), Sam and Tucker have seen Danny's powers, and Danny's without his usual bodyguards! Let's not forget Stitches' _strange_ reaction to Spectra's name at the end of Vlad's Son, either. Hmmm!

*puffs up with friskiness and runs away cackling* Nyahahaha! =^òwó^=


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Danny Phantom, its domain or any of its characters and copyrights. I own Stitch Witch, Lily Belladonna, and any other Original Characters found herein.

Nyaa.

**Author's Note:** There was a little confusion as to Danny's age as of the beginning of this fic in the reviews. At the end of Vlad's Son, he was ten; now, **Danny is fourteen.**

**Nyaa.**

**=^-.-^=**

**Chapter 2**

Whether a feline or a human, there was just something absolutely _glorious_ about lying on a sunlit window perch for a light afternoon nap. Thanks to the benches built into several of the kitchen's windows, there was plenty of room for even the tallest or widest visitors to sit at a window and be completely bathed in sunlight. Of course, Ashley was certainly neither of those things as a human, being eternally a short, scrawny redhead with porcelain skin and black stitchwork holding many of her limbs to her body; she was contently stuck on her back, hands and feet still in their 'paw' positions. The fact that her black ears and tail were still present as well gave away what had happened – she had been basking at some point and, before completely transforming into… well, whichever form she _hadn't_ started in, she had slipped into slumber.

Lily Belladonna chuckled as she sat with a cup of tea. Whether the so-called Stitch Witch grew to be 50 or 5,000 years older, she could only ever see the five-year-old wild child who had first learned to be a kitten, long before she could learn to be a human or a ghost. That had always been the way of her people, though, before Pariah had destroyed it. Ironically, of course, he hadn't destroyed it on purpose; it was merely the taint of evil and malice that his later ruling style had created, infecting the lands she had once called home in the mortal world. She had been killed near the same time – her daughter's younger years had been marked with a tremendous amount of pain for both of them. She had even given her life trying to save her daughter back then. That was why Lily was still around, far longer than many other ghosts could claim. Her ghostly obsession had always been watching over her children and making sure that no harm could ever come to them again.

Ashley was immortal, though. By association, that made Lily immortal as well. Oh, a far-stronger ghost _could_ cause Lily damage, but as long as there was a reason for her to reappear, she would do exactly that – same as any ghost. She had had other children aside from Ashley as well. They never shared their elder sister's immortality, and had always faded away with time, as all ghosts did.

The two of them had yet to tell Vlad or Danny that the half-ghost lived for millennia. The boys had been warped through scientific means – and pure accidents, at that! Ashley, on the other hand, had been _born_ a halfa, through natural means… albeit before the laws of nature had been set. Who was to say if Vlad Masters and darling little Daniel were immortal as well?

Who was to say that the newest arrival would be like them, or like her older sister…?

"You always have such a wonderful glow about you."

Lily snapped to attention, her forest-green eyes moving to Vlad quickly. She giggled. "You managed to sneak up on me!"

"Really? You must be having some very deep thoughts, then." He looked pointedly at Stitches. Her tail twitched in her sleep. "At least she doesn't have whiskers this time. If someone were to just walk in, that would be _very_ difficult to explain."

"Yes, it would!" Lily looked amused. "Did you know that she used to get stuck between forms, just like this, all of the time when she was just learning how to use her human abilities? By the time that she was learning to be a cat, she was doing it on purpose, of course."

"Well, the cat _does_ seem to be her favorite secondary form. I don't think I've seen her as anything else, outside of her ghostly form."

Just then, the kitchen door opened, and Danny came hurrying in. "Stitches! Are you in here…?" He stopped short upon seeing his parents. "…I'll bug her later!"

"Daniel! What's the rush, Little Badger? Stitches is right here, and I'm _sure_ she could use some time being _awake."_ Vlad smacked one of the Witch's feet as he passed, moving to sit beside Lily.

Ashley's throat emitted a feline-like chirp. She coughed and hummed. "Awake? And risk actually doing something today?" Her body resumed its reshaping until she was once again a sleek black cat covered in ancient golden jewelry. She stretched her warm tummy. "Ohhh; that would have felt _divine_ if I had finished the shapeshift _before_ I dozed off…"

"No, seriously! Wake up!" The fourteen-year-old picked her up by the scruff of her neck so that he could look the sleepy feline in the eye. "I have to show you something!"

With that, he rushed out of the kitchen, and he didn't stop until he was in his space-themed bedroom. His black walls and ceiling were littered with tiny specks of plastic that gave off light at all hours, dimming and brightening throughout the day and nighttime. He kept his orb-shaped main light off in favor of dropping onto his belly and crawling under his bed, dragging his step-sister along with him. For the Masters boy to feel he needed to hide in such a place, he must have had some reason for it… It was the only closed-in space that he ever willingly subjected himself to.

"What the heck are you doing?" Stitch Witch chirped, her tail twitching as she tried to swivel her tiny, black head around to look at him.

Danny let her go and flicked on a flashlight he kept stored away. Shuffling through his pockets, he finally fished out an envelope and flattened it out. A deep frown etched across his face. "Some guy stopped me and my friends on the walk home today. He said he knew you. I-I didn't look at it or anything, but…"

Tilting her head, Ashley stepped on the envelope and dragged it closer. Her paws quickly became hands, with fingers that curiously ripped open the paper quickly and pulled out the polaroid photograph inside. It was a picture of herself, four short years before… give or take five years out of a decade when she'd jumped into a different timeline. She stared at the disturbingly familiar scene: Her, wild and angry as in the days of her father, bludgeoning a human to death with a rock. A survivor of the Dan Apocalypse, to be precise, and a zealot of what had come to be called the Church of Dan. As their namesake may have suggested, the 'church' and its followers were comprised of very violent, confused individuals in a timeline that, now, would never come to pass.

So, how had the picture found its way to Danny?

"Op. Spring Break, 1966. Knew I shouldn't have had that much to drink." She smiled brightly, tucking the picture in her back pocket. "Don't worry. I'll get this all straightened out. Sorry you had to put up with the grump, kiddo, but I've gotta go!"

She turned to leave, but Danny instinctively grabbed her wrist. "Wait! Are… Are you alright? Are you in trouble, or…?" Poor kid – his instincts were abnormally spot-on _and_ he was too smart for his own good.

Ashley snickered, bumping her forehead against his like her feline self would. "I'm never in trouble, remember? I'm a cat. I make the trouble!"

"Got that right." he muttered, giving her an accusing stare. He was clearly worried.

"Exactly! Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to make some more. I think I'll start with stealing and hiding a single sock from each pair you own, then move on to your model rocket collection… Hm… I think I'll paint them purple and blue this time."

Before he could call her on not taking the situation seriously, the elder halfa had vanished through the floor. Danny sighed and rested a cheek on the floor, staring ahead blankly. He just couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was keeping something from him, and that it was due to his age.

It wasn't a very good feeling.

* * *

"Let me out of here! Let me out!"

Dash had been in the locker for at least an hour now. Of course, it felt longer, and even if it wasn't, anything beyond ten minutes was _too_ long. Someone should have missed him and come looking, or heard him, or something! He was on the football team! He was popular, dammit!

Plus, the darkness _was_ sort of starting to get to him…

Someone knocked lightly on the other side of the locker. At first, he wasn't sure he had heard it. Then they knocked again, a little louder this time.

Dash started pounding on the metal frantically. "Hey! I'm in here! Help!"

There was a pause. "Ah, yes… Dash Baxter."

Now Dash paused. It wasn't the voice of anyone he knew…

Suddenly, the metal bubbled inward, and five fingers jabbed holes right through the metal. They closed together, and the next thing he knew, the door had been ripped off its hinges and tossed aside like scrap paper, and the monster on the other side reached in to pull him out by the collar of his shirt. Dash started to feel as though his chest were constricting in on itself, making it hard to breathe. He hadn't paid enough attention in Health class to realize he was suffering the early stages of a panic attack.

He was smart enough to know he had good reason to be afraid, though.

A grin formed slowly on Dan Phantom's face, and it got the wanted reaction: He watched Dash begin to try jerking out of his grip, feet kicking so that they didn't just dangle helplessly in the air. The jock was probably on the verge of pissing himself. "Oh, goodie, it _is_ you. I thought that I was going to have to just internalize not being able to kill my young target, but _you…_ Well, I had _loads_ of fun killing you the first time." He craned his neck closer to the teen, grin growing ever wider and more foreboding. "Tell me, Casper _does_ still have a woodshop class _and_ an auto class, right? All of the _best_ tools are there."

Now Dash had _definitely_ lost control over his bladder. Dan recognized the dripping sound… and the smell.

"He's a coward, Dan. His sort is only fun to torture and maim for so long. The crying gets old fast."

Dan didn't even repress a purr at the sound of the Witch's voice, although he didn't bother to break eye contact with his terrified victim, either. If she wouldn't let him have fun killing the teen, perhaps he could do it now, quickly, through sheer willpower. Hey, people had died of heart attacks in his hold before…

A pair of thin arms wrapped around his neck from behind. She leaned against his back, her cheek brushing against his ear. "Honestly, are you so desperate for a victim that you would scrape the _very bottom_ of the barrel?" Stitch Witch asked.

He knew that she was just baiting him away from Dash. She could give a rip if the human died at his hands, or if it happened in a particularly colorful way. She just didn't want it to happen in _Danny's_ world, or _Vlad's_ world, where either of them would be forced to take notice. He was determined to wait her out, until her true nature began to break through as it had so long ago. But then she suddenly let go, jumped off of his back and rushed away.

Damn that woman!

Dan dropped the traumatized teen and disappeared through the ceiling after her, flying away from the high school. Stitch Witch wasn't far ahead of him. She whisked her way towards the small forest that the park provided. Even in the early sunset, there weren't many people out and about to see the two ghosts, which was good – she didn't think to be invisible, and he just didn't care if he was seen.

He landed beneath the trees after her, catching her by the wrist when she moved to dart away. She quickly turned her head to fix him with a cold stare. He didn't have time for her games; he pulled the Witch close, holding her by the arms now. "Must you spoil my fun? Or have you become a spoiled little princess, being Vlad's daughter? Is it too much to watch a boy being skinned alive, now?"

She got a slightly deranged little smirk, leaning up on her toes so that she could get close enough to hiss, "I would have suggested replacing that little bastard's head with a muffler, _a la _The Mask."

A devilish grin caught on his face, and he couldn't help loosen his grip on her slightly. "Perhaps we should go back, then."

"No." Ashley frowned, backing down onto her heels again coldly. "I'm satisfied just to let my children pick on him without his ever realizing it."

Dan smirked knowingly. "Is that how he got in the locker in the first place?"

"You didn't do that?" She looked surprised, tilting her head slightly. He could see the gears working behind those innocent-looking eyes. When she got a mild look on her, he chuckled. "Danny Masters… I _am_ impressed with you, little brother…"

Dan Phantom winced angrily. "Don't call him that. Just don't."

Ashley narrowed her eyes and studied him. When she had last seen the poltergeist before her, the goatee was little more than a baby soul patch and his hair wasn't yet long enough to be tied back. It was bizarre, seeing the build that Danny Fenton would have had if Vlad actually _had_ been his biological father. What made it even more bizarre was that, given Maddie's physical prowess and Jack's physical girth, it wouldn't be too surprising if Danny _did_ end up looking similar one day.

She sighed hopelessly. "Well, at least he probably won't _think_ like you. Probably. Clockwork hasn't griped about the Observants griping anytime recently…"

"I'm going to pretend that I know what you're talking about, and I'm going to change the subject anyway." he said, frowning at her. "Very disorienting, having the world literally fall apart and disappear around you; I must say, I'm offended. I thought that we got along better than that."

He had leaned forward slightly, so they were nose to nose. She pretended not to know exactly what he was insinuating. "Cats and women change their minds all of the time, Dan Phantom. I happen to be _both."_

Dan smirked. She hated it when he did that sometimes. "You shouldn't be so dishonest, Ashley. It doesn't suit you. You're much prettier when you're howling with anger and covered in blood."

"Fine. Care to donate yours?" She crossed her arms.

"In a heartbeat." He licked up the side of her face. She yelped and jumped backwards, rubbing the spit off of her cheek with a wild, agitated expression. "What? It's only okay when _you_ do it?"

"Yes!" Ashley huffed haughtily. "Well? Out with it! Why are you here? Is it to kill Danny, Vlad, or both?"

He faked a sweet smile. "Can't I be here to see my pretty kitty?"

She made a face. "No… And that's… creepy."

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" He quickly dropped the mockery, scratching at his chin. "Now, if I was going to kill either of my blood donors, don't you think I would have snuffed out Danny _today?"_

"No. I would have killed you. You haven't _turned_ me yet."

"Yet." He grinned, exposing his fangs. "I'm glad you admit that it's inevitable."

"I know it's a strong possibility." She stood on her toes again, doing her best to get in his face. "But I also have _waaay_ too much fun with just generally pissing you off."

Dan swiped, trying to grab her, but she ducked out of range, still literally on her toes. Ashley gave him an indignant look. Part of him adored it. Part of him also wondered if she'd look so indignant and proud after a good slap in the face.

"Stay away from my family, Dan." she warned, before taking off through the trees.

He frowned after her, folding his arms across his broad chest. If there wasn't so much to do to begin with, he would probably just vacuum her into a thermos and deal with her later.

**=^o.o^=**

Well, isn't it just _adorable_ when two psychopaths flirt? You can tell they're in love by just how badly they want to hit each other! Lol, I kid.

OMG, I'm back!

Nyaa!

I know, I know – bad kitty is bad. I've been so slackish lately. Luckily my Gargoyles fandom relapsed and kicked my butt back into gear. Also, I'm near the sea now! And NOT in Alaska! Woo! That means that there's equal night and day hours no matter what time of year it is.

Of course, being a cat, I nap at all hours, and I get into mischief at all hours. For example, it's almost 1 AM, and my brain just said that adding to fanfiction was a good idea. I think I'll be staying up a little later to see what other shenanigans I can get into. Maybe catnip. And then, caterwauling outside a hated neighbor's bedroom window once 3 AM rolls around.

Nyaa.

*meanders off for adventure*


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any items of the Danny Phantom canonverse. I'm a cat.

Nyaa.

**=^n.n^=**

**Chapter 3**

Danny's lungs burned as he ran through the trees. It was between six and seven in the morning. The mountain fog still blanketed the forest. He wore a hoodie – blue, not unlike the one he had as a child – for appearance's sake alone. No one else had a cabin in this part of the range, but the last thing he needed was for some ranger to spot him and insist on driving Danny back to the Masters Lodge.

Of course, that might happen anyway, considering the pack of wolves accompanying him… Led by their large, fuzzy black alpha. Wulf insisted on joining Danny during his exercises. After all, he and Danny had been friends for years, and roaming was one of the most common ways that animals bonded. Wolves in particular – as long as Wulf was around, the wolves would frequently try to play with Danny; they also liked to go out of their way to harass Vlad if he accidentally happened upon them.

"_You are breathing hard again, cub." _Wulf growled in his native Esperanto. He cocked a grin, which looked strange, considering the muzzle. _"You have been watching your moving pictures and 'visual games' again, eh?"_

"_Video games, Wulf."_ Danny grunted. _"Maybe I should lay off the extra helpings when Mom cooks."_

The wolves began yelping. Unlike dogs, they couldn't bark – they just shortened their howls. Wulf laughed heartily. _"They say that they will take your portion of the meals, if you do not want them!"_

Danny snickered and shook his head. Having an animal-to-human translator helped him realize just how much wild wolves were like the more energetic breeds among their domestic cousins. They got excited about play time, feeding time, travel time, hunting time… Danny and Vlad had once witnessed a struggle for dominance between two members of the pack. It was one of the few times that the younger halfa had seen Wulf bare his fangs in anger; the two that were fighting had stopped quickly when the large, lupine ghost had slammed them both to the ground at once, pinning them on their backs. Vlad had actually complimented Wulf on his 'impressive display of authority'.

They approached the lodge. Lily had set up breakfast outside already, and Vlad was contentedly reading the newspaper, already in his so-called 'leisure' clothes, which were always a pair of slacks and a polo. Give Danny a pair of jeans and a t-shirt any day…

"I've been here fifteen minutes, Little Badger." Vlad commented, not looking up as Danny plopped into the chair next to him. "You're slowing down. Perhaps I will ask Miss Manson to drag you along on her nature hikes during the week."

Danny made a face at the thought. Just what he needed: more exercise. "I think I'd rather wrestle with one of Wulf's packmates. I'd rather get bitten than _run_ fifteen miles and throw up my own heart…"

"Fifteen miles, you say?" Now Vlad looked alert… and impressed. Danny mentally kicked himself. "Now that _is_ something. We just ran five. And she does that for fun?"

"Er, no. Not fifteen. It's… five. Five miles. Yup. Definitely not fifteen." Danny corrected himself, frowning deeply.

"Don't worry, Danny, I won't let your father make you start running an extra ten miles." Lily had swooped in to save her stepson, placing a large plate of food in front of him. Eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, toast… it was difficult to keep track of all of the proteins and carbs that she insisted be in a breakfast, and that was just the first plate. The second one had the potatoes and various fruits on it.

Wulf laughed from where he and his pack had stopped. _"If you continue to feed the cub like that, he will have to run so much every day, or he will be fat!"_

"_You would know fat, too, wouldn't you, Wulf?"_ she asked, smiling as she disappeared back inside the lodge.

"_Wolves are not sticks, like foxes!" _he called after her, grinning and wagging his tail.

Danny looked in Vlad's direction. "Animals have a weird sense of humor."

"Be thankful you lead an interesting life, my boy." The elder halfa smirked. As Lily returned, he sighed and gazed at her. "Darling, you know I love your cooking and how happy it makes you, but – "

"No." she answered, smiling brightly as she set down the second plate. Sitting among the hash browns, it seemed she had decided to be well-balanced and mixed some sort of vegetable in with the potatoes. "Breakfast is supposed to be the largest meal of the day. Danny needs his energy, especially considering his weekend routine _and_ his ghost half. He will not get fat, I promise, and neither will _you."_

With that, she kissed her husband on the cheek and marched off of the porch to busy herself in the garden. Several of the wolves wagged their tails and tilted their ears back, allowing her to pet their heads. She did the same to Wulf. He didn't mind. In fact, he smiled. _"If you continue to be so kind, my brothers and sisters may mistake humans for being unthreatening things."_

"_Hopefully not before humans learn how to coexist with such beautiful creatures."_ She kissed him on the nose. His tail thumped against the ground. _"After all, you were here first."_

"_Your mate is right. You are uncommonly kind."_

* * *

Stitch Witch knew that she should have warned Vlad that Dan Phantom was in their own timeline and a threat. Now that his own timeline had been erased, Dan existed outside of the parameters of time – Clockwork had no power over him. Clockwork could not see him, he could not freeze him… which meant that very few ghosts and even fewer humans even stood a chance of surviving a fight with the ghost.

Instead, she found herself in Pariah's tomb, standing before the giant sarcophagus that kept the former king in a forced slumber. She knew that this was what Dan would be after. He couldn't stand knowing that there was a ghost anywhere in existence more powerful than himself. This wasn't something that she would entirely mind, except that, unlike Plasmius, Dan Phantom wouldn't be content to kill Pariah while he was still asleep and harmless. He would want a glorious, bloody battle; one that would rip great chunks out of the Ghost Zone, the Living Realm, possibly even reality itself as far as she knew.

Would Dan really be able to defeat Pariah? She tried to stamp out that question quickly, but she already knew that he could. She had nothing but the utmost confidence in Dan – a dangerous thing to admit, to be sure. Other dangerous things to admit were that she had missed him sorely, and that she didn't view him as a family member, as she did with Vlad and Danny Masters. He was Dan, a rare, deadly creature that both demanded respect and deserved understanding.

Ashley loved Dan; she would not admit it aloud, but she did. If she loved him, that was proof that he was the answer to her father's curse, which in turn proved his capacity for evil. She would have to kill him, before he hurt someone dear to her.

She sighed and shook her head, eyes burning with old memories as she looked down at her hands. Her usual glamour was currently lowered, and at the moment, her usually-flawless skin was covered in hideous scars among the stitches that held her body together. The least painful of them were the ones on her wrists, the only ones inflicted by her mother rather than her father. Pariah had once ripped his child's human heart from her chest. She had gone on a blood-lusting rampage of madness. Thousands had died at the hands of some barely Danny's age. Lily had found her weeks later, and had separated the heart into two halves, sewing them into Ashley's wrists.

_So you will always wear your heart on your sleeve._

At the time, Stitches had viewed it as a curse; after living in such a manner for so long, she knew it was possibly the only thing that kept her moral compass in check. She still did strange things – sometimes things that were so bafflingly crazy that generations later, humans still talked about the after-effects – but, at least, she didn't have a fresh body count on her conscience at the end of each day.

"I feared I might find you here."

"Clockwork." Ashley's scowl etched its way deeper into her face. She felt tired; a sure sign that she was becoming anxious. Anxiety did not bode well.

The time ghost drew up to her side, looking up at Pariah's sarcophagus. "I caught a glimpse of Dan Phantom escaping his timeline. I was not sure if he had succeeded, but if he had, I knew I would find you here eventually. He would seek you out."

"He wants Pariah gone."

"You _hope_ that's the only reason." Clockwork looked at her. The Stitch Witch was not being her usual taunting, teasing self, and her energy… he could feel it running wild. Her aura of chaos. If he were a lesser mortal, he would be running amuck in a fit of blind madness _long_ before reaching her. If he were alive, he would be killing – either himself, or someone else. "You cannot let him get into your mind like this. Curses only have as much power as you allow them."

"He was my father. I hate him. I hate what he did to me. _But he was my father."_ Stitches fixed Clockwork with a firm look. "I couldn't bring myself to kill him then. Now, I may have to."

"You don't have that resolve. I don't want to see the day when you _do_ have that resolve." His jaw was set. "Ashley, do you really want to surrender to a creature like Dan Phantom? Do you want to surrender your _children_ and _their_ families to his brand of livelihood? He is a murderer. He is a sociopath; unlike you, he doesn't see the line in the sand as something that _shouldn't_ be erased. All he cares about is that it _can_ be erased, that he can go beyond mere human cruelty and completely rewrite the book on hideous acts!"

She at last threw him a look of mirth. "You think I'd let him rewrite my biography? Clockwork, I'm disappointed in you. And here I thought my mother appointed a _wise_ man to be my godfather…"

It almost made him feel better that she could change her outward persona so quickly. Almost. "I'm serious. We need to get rid of Dan Phantom. _You_ need to get rid of him. Danny is too young, and Vlad could be irreparably changed by seeing what his son _could_ have been. He may begin to think that Danny isn't as mentally resistant as he actually is. We can't run the risk of this sort of thing happening _twice_ in a lifetime."

"Then you're barking up the wrong tree." Back to being moody – great. Ashley narrowed her eyes at him. "I've seen what Dan is. He's not Vlad; he's not Danny; he's everything beyond their greatest fall from grace. He's so much darker than either could be, even if they were two personalities trapped in a dissociative human's body working together in tandem. You don't get it, do you? If Dan were here merely to destroy the world, we'd all be _dead_ right now. Danny, Vlad, my mother, my children, and especially you, Clockwork. God only knows what he'd do with me, seeing as I'm not lucky enough to be able to die _or_ fade – all he'd need to do with Danny and Vlad is separate the ghost part first. After all," – Her steady gaze at him darkened considerably, and it hadn't been very kind to begin with. – "that's how he was made in the first place."

His expression didn't change, but a surge of guilt welled up in Clockwork. "I didn't tell you because I knew you would split hairs, or else use the information to inevitably kill Vlad if you _did_ go to war with one another."

"And now you know how _fucked_ you are!" she spat angrily. If not for the thin veil of water beginning to cover her entire body, her hair would have bristled with her temper. "You're the one most responsible for preventing his creation, and you're pretty much the reason he almost died. You know he'll be gunning for you sooner or later. So tell me, _Clockwork,_ how creative do you think he's going to be when he gets around to you? How long do you fear he's going to torture you before he _lets_ you fade into nothingness?" A bitter smirk stained her lips. "If your obsession will allow you to fade, that is."

It took a great deal of constitution not to recoil at how much she resembled her former self with such a sadistic look on her face… or how much she looked like her father. Clockwork had let a slight wince through – a mere twinge of his cheeks, his lips turning up slightly – and for a moment, he was afraid. Not of Dan or the very possible situation Stitch Witch was describing, but of the Witch herself, and what _she_ could do to him.

He hadn't felt that way in a very long time, and he immediately regretted it.

"You disappoint me." she muttered, frowning and turning away. She was incapable of hurting him, just as she was incapable of harming her mother, her children, Vlad, Danny… Just because she had the power to do something, didn't mean she could bring herself to do such a thing.

Clockwork raised a hand slightly. "Ashley…"

"I have better things to do; I've moped here long enough." She retreated, calm and quick, from his hand. Soon, she was at the door. "Don't stick around here too long, Clockwork. This place has a way of reopening old wounds."

He sighed and looked up at Pariah's sarcophagus, feeling slightly forlorn now. "Don't I know it…"

**=^T_T^=**

And just like that, things got DEEP.

NYAA.

Hm. Hrm-a-hrm-hrm. Hrm. This chapter felt long, but it's… short. Shorter than I thought it'd be, anyway. That's somewhat disappointing, even if it's all in my head, which I know it is. It'll bother me. Until the next thought, anyway.

Oo! Catnip!

Nyaa!

*runs away*


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom and I do not make money off of this fanfiction.

Nyaa.

**=^n.n^=**

**Chapter 4**

The part that really sucked about having the memories of two different people was that they weren't really memories at all. Dan Phantom lived with the memories of Danny Fenton-slash-Masters and Vlad Masters, but they were more like… dreams. The vivid kind that a person had when they were very, very lucid, except that he had no choice in the decisions being made when he recalled them. He hated those memories. They made him feel like he was crazy or something.

Possibly why he was referred to as a psychopath.

But he wasn't a psychopath. Not entirely, at least. There were his sociopathic aspirations to consider, too – although the previously-mentioned 'memories' interfered with his thinking as much as that. When he wanted a goal in life, he recalled the motives that his forebears had; Danny's desire to protect and Vlad's desire to have. Vlad always had been such an empty, lost narcissist, more so in the timeline that created Dan than this one.

Dan could still 'recall' the day that Lily had turned on Vlad for trying to harm her child. Oh, Vlad had taken that one hard. It had utterly destroyed the old badger to be rejected a second time – and by a woman who had the same face as Maddie Fenton, no less!

That was what had led up to Dan's creation, really. It certainly played a huge part in it. After destroying the second love of his life, Vlad's heart had died, and even his beloved godson was not immune. Vlad didn't turn spiteful or malicious on Danny, the way he did his other acquaintances, but he certainly did grow cold and distant when the boy needed him the most. There was no filter to remind Vlad that Danny's life would not echo his own, either, and Danny had been so horribly, horribly poisoned by his godfather's mindset, well into his teen years.

At fourteen, Danny had finally had enough of it. It had killed the boy to turn on the only father he could clearly remember – indeed, the only father that Danny had actually _known_ – when he had screamed at Vlad to stop comparing his two best friends to his dead biological parents. No amount of reminiscing and painful longing was going to bring them back, and he was just subjecting Danny to an unfair pain.

Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius had fought for three full days, a complete 72 hours _to the minute_ before the younger could finally take no more. He 'blinked', so to speak, and that was all that Plasmius had needed to disarm his son. After all, he couldn't bring himself to kill his own son, the last shred of memorable decency that the man had left in his life.

Vlad tore out Danny's ghost half. Danny's ghost half tore out Vlad's ghost half. The two halves had merged, creating Dan.

Dan killed Danny, not out of flat-out animosity – although there was plenty of that for _both_ the halfas by that point – but because, by that point, some small part of Danny had wanted to die. He knew Vlad needed to be stopped, and that no one else _would_ stop, _could _stop, the tyrant his childhood hero had become, and Danny… Danny was the only one who _would._ Danny was the only one who _could._ But, by God, Danny _didn't have it in him…_ and there would have been only one other way to wake Vlad up.

In the end, Dan was doing his namesake a favor. It was assisted suicide, technically, and while Dan didn't 'remember' what Vlad felt immediately after watching a monster that was part Danny, part Vlad himself, he could _see_ it all over the billionaire's face. Vlad had watched his son die… and he was utterly powerless to do anything about it. He couldn't take revenge. He couldn't bring Danny back. _He couldn't do a damn thing._

Dan had turned on him – Danny's face on his son's murderer – and given Vlad that maniacal grin. The old man expected to be slaughtered next; to be burned away into cinders, at least! But Dan was _punishing_ Vlad. It was part Danny's need, part Vlad desire, and mostly just because Dan wanted them both to suffer.

Vlad was left alive because there was truly nothing more awful that Dan could put the former father through.

But now none of that would happen. None of that was possible. Dan studied the picture in his hands curiously. Vlad had always kept the picture of Jack, Maddie and himself from college on his desk, with a picture of a much-younger Danny and Jazz in another frame next to it. The picture of both godchildren in their youth still sat there, but the one in place of the college photo was a family photo – Lily, Danny, Vlad, Stitches in her human form…

Ashley. He gazed intently at her face in the picture. He had torn apart the world for her. At first, it was because of Vlad's rage at her interfering with his plans, for giving Lily to him and then ripping her away, paired with Danny's pain at not knowing why she had abandoned him. As Dan had begun to become more aware of his own independent thoughts and feelings, on the other hand, he tore apart the world so that he could have her. He didn't really care if she liked him, loved him, or thought he wasn't worth the dirt on her boot.

Then she had to go and fuck that up, too. Her and her _knowing_ he was neither Vlad nor Danny. Her and her _chaos._ Her and her wild swings of rampant bloodlust once rage took her over that left even him reeling in sheer _awe._ She was gorgeous, with her scars and stitches and that angry gleam in her eye when she wanted to burn the world, especially when she was bathed in the blood of a thousand cannibals.

He sighed softly and ran his thumb over her glass-covered, glossy face. Why couldn't she have been just one thing, like the rest of his victims? Why did she have to have this… this… dual nature? If she could just be a killer, like he was, then he could either get along with her, or do away with her. It could be so simple. He liked simple. Simple was easy to kill, or manipulate, or do whatever it was he needed to do with it. Simple didn't give him massive headaches, or make his chest hurt.

"Oh, Vladdie… You don't know what an ally you have." he muttered, leaning back to sit on Vlad's desk. The home study was comfortable in its familiarity – in a secondhand sort of way. Vlad had worked here. Danny had played here.

Dan wondered what it would look like on fire.

He sighed again, setting the picture neatly back in its place as Vlad's computer gave a chime, having completed its task. Dan popped the disk out of its drive, put it back in its case, and tucked it into his belt. "I really must thank you for the blueprints, though; it's going to make _my_ life a lot easier."

With that, he flew through the ceiling and towards the heart of the town. Now that he had the means to do real harm to Vlad's business empire, he needed something else… a distraction. Chaos. He remembered how weak the veil between the dimensions of humans and ghosts was in Amity quite well.

Having a flood of ghosts would be a surefire tell to Vlad and Danny that something was going on. However, it would also make Dan himself harder for either halfa to detect.

Dan perched himself on one of the taller buildings and looked over the neighborhood where Fenton Works once stood. He couldn't remember the building itself to save his skin, but the memorial was a different story. Good thing the old badger was so sentimental.

He paused for a moment as he rolled over the formula he needed his body to perform mentally. He wasn't going to be relying on machines for this one, like others might. It was why he was so powerful by comparison, after all, and he wasn't about to pass over an opportunity to flaunt that fact… even if it was just for him. Using the point of origin of the explosion would make tearing open a hole to the Ghost Zone easy, but he had suddenly hit a snag he had previously ignored. It could bite him in the ass if he went through with it.

_Or…_ A predatory grin curled across his face. Even if the side effect _did_ come back to haunt him, it would be oodles of entertainment watching poor, spoiled little Danny _Fenton_ squirm. That boy had wounds in his mind that could never fully be healed, no matter how hard his _current_ family tried.

* * *

"You're home!" Stitches the cat flew at Danny's feet, butting his legs with her head and purring loudly. She repeated this behavior with Lily, then sat in front of Vlad. "I killed a bird for you, but then I eated it."

"That's not a word." Vlad frowned, but picked his feline step-daughter up by the scruff of her neck so that he could tuck her in the crook of his elbow. The black cat purred, eyes drawing shut as she leaned against his shoulder.

"She didn't really kill a bird and eat it, did she?" Danny asked.

Lily smiled at him. "Do you _really_ want to know the answer?"

He stared at her for a minute. "…No. No, I don't." The messy-haired teen looked around. "Well, there's still a few hours of Sunday left… I'm gonna go see Sam and Tucker."

"Be careful!" Lily called after him as he retreated back outside.

"Y'wanna know something interesting that _I_ noticed?" Stitches asked, staring at her mother lazily. "Last couple of weeks, it's been _super_ warm and sunny, and just the right amount, too. Very comfortable. Good for napping."

"And?" Vlad gave her a look.

"It's not like that _outside_ of home. And, this weekend, when I stayed here instead, I couldn't help but notice that it _wasn't_ warm and sunny." The cat narrowed her eyes. Her tail was now swishing wildly.

"Ashley, are you jealous?" Lily asked, frowning as she placed her hands on her hips.

Vlad looked between them, confused. "Why would she be jealous, exactly?"

"Aha!" Stitches leaped from Vlad's hold, tail puffed up. "I knew he didn't know! I knew it! Ha! Ha! _Ha!"_

With that, she began running up and down the hall in a manic frenzy.

Vlad frowned. "…Lily, you really should rip up that catnip garden. No good has come of it." Then he gave her a confused look. "What is it that I apparently 'don't know', now?"

"That I'm pregnant, of course." Now Lily frowned, especially when she was met with a genuinely shocked look. "Wait… you really _didn't_ know?"

"Of course he didn't!" Stitches cackled as she ran past them for a second time, ears pinned against her skull. "He's too human! Too _huuumaaan!"_

Vlad's eyes narrowed into slits after the black blur as she made a U-turn and came barreling back towards them. Reacting quickly, he caught her by the scruff of her neck and picked her up, holding the now-writhing and growling beast at arm's length. "You are _not_ helping the situation."

"I'm not here to help the situation. I'm here to be a general nuisance that's too cute for you to _kick."_ An evil smile curled Stitches' lips and she twitched her whiskers.

"Ashley." Lily took the cat from Vlad, looking at her pointedly. "Vlad and I need to talk, obviously. At least give him an hour or so _before_ you start poking fun at him over something like this."

Stitch Witch tutted, visibly deflating. "Fine. Talk. Whatever. I don't care. I am a cat." As soon as her feet touched the ground, she tore off towards the back yard, screaming, _"I'm going to hide a mouse in your shoe, old man!"_

Lily shook her head, touching one of her cheeks. Then she looked at her husband. "I'm so sorry, Vlad. I just… didn't realize. I forget that it's been quite a long time since a ghost child was _born_ rather than made through some tragic event."

He wasn't listening, though. Instead, he reached out to hold her, one of his hands brushing over her abdomen. That's when he felt it – a weak signature that was an imperfect blend of both his and her ghostly energies. After a moment, he felt the tiny life – he didn't stop to care about whether or not that was the right word – trying to latch onto its father's energy, as a primitive ghost might when trying to investigate a stranger.

Vlad's posture relaxed as he gazed at the spot beneath his fingertips. "That's wonderful…" Without warning, he pulled Lily into his arms, holding her close as he pressed his lips against hers. This was followed by several more, smaller kisses to her cheeks and temple. He couldn't think of anything else to do. He felt… Elated? Excited? Ecstatic? Certainly, all three, and then some!

He was going to be a father for the second time.

"I've got to call Daniel home." he said suddenly, looking around for a phone. "He needs to hear about this!"

"Vlad!" Lily laughed warmly, holding onto him as he tried to move away. "He can wait just a little longer! Let him be with his friends for now."

He didn't need to be told twice; he returned his full attention on her, still not entirely sure of what he should do next. He'd never had a pregnant wife, after all, and he felt like his chest was going to explode with the sheer _joy._ Finally, curiosity set in, calming him – though, of course, Lily couldn't help but notice that a childish excitement didn't leave his eyes. "I thought that ghosts couldn't…?"

"It's just uncommon. Ghosts tend to be solitary, and our psyches _do_ mold our physical abilities, after all – I doubt we'll be hearing about Ember ever having a child, for example." She smiled at him. "Besides, this comes about once a pair of ghosts have grown attached to one another and synchronized, so to speak. Their energies bleed together to create children for them. That's why I thought you'd known already, since males seem to notice when their own signature is being carried by a female. Of course, seeing your reaction…" Her smile turned into a teasing grin.

Vlad smiled, leaning his forehead against hers. "Yes. If and when this ever happens again, you should _definitely_ tell me, just to be sure."

**=^nwn^=**

D'awww, Vladdie! Don't you love a random piece of fluff in a fanfiction? I do, especially when it's right before everything starts hitting the fan! *_Ride of the Valkyries_ begins playing in the distance*

Nyaa! *puffs up tail and runs away*


End file.
